He Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
by s3xyBATbaby
Summary: There's simply no denying the fact that Sharkboy has always liked Lavagirl, but why hasn't he made his move yet? Is he shy, nervous or even maybe scared? Or perhaps his hesitation has a deeper cause?


**AN: This one is for Dracona of the Teen Legends. Thanks so much for the continued support, you're my first reviewer ever! Enjoy!**

"Is the launchpad ready?" "Check." "Security's good?" "Check." "You're a buttface?" "Check."

Lavagirl turned around, a smug smile on her lips. Of course, Sharkboy was in his seat, playing with the PSP he got from Max. She walked over to him, placing a hand on the device and lowering it to get his attention.

"Toys put away?" He smiled and rolled his eyes, putting it back in his pocket. "Check," he stated pointedly, making her smile in satisfaction and turn back to the controls.

"Well, everything seems to be in order, so we're ready to go." Lavagirl was just about to turn to her seat when she remembered. "Oh! We forgot the mechanical gloves Max wanted us to bring to earth." Since Max's powers only worked on Planet Drool, sometimes they had to help out when he needed something he had dreamt up.

Lavagirl quickly turned to the door, but stopped in her tracks when she reached it, turning around to where Sharkboy was sitting. "Uhm, where is it again?" Sharkboy stood up and walked up to her.

"Oh, I put it back on the display after I tested it." Her perky smile returned and she went out and to the lab. As promised, the red-and-black super strength gloves were on the pedestal where she had last seen them.

She quickly grabbed them and sped back to the rocket like a hyper puppy. As she walked up the metal slope to the entrance, she noticed Sharkboy standing in the door. She brushed off the fluttering inside her stomach when she noticed him staring at her.

She slowed her pace when she reached him, brushing past him while trying to ignore the feeling it gave her when his hand lightly touched her waist to escort her into the room, her hand automatically landing on his chest.

For a brief moment, their eyes met. At first it seemed like it would go on forever, but Sharkboy turned away, walking further into the rocket's main room. Lavagirl felt like she should probably forget what had happened, but as she sat down and secured herself, she knew she couldn't.

Sharkboy stared at the planets flying by the window. Of course, not all the planets were ever there for them to see, but some were always there. Pluto passed, then came Saturn and Jupiter. Mars was a little further away, but still in sight.

His vision was blurred as his mind was distracted from getting his eyes to focus. It had happened again! He was waiting for her to come back, and the next thing he knew, she was there and he couldn't get his eyes off her! But he just couldn't help it.

He closed his eyes tight at the memory of when she had run up to him, her hair blowing in the wind, her eyes sparkling in the early morning sun...

Wait, did he just think that?! Woah, this girl really has his mind going nuts. He shook his head and tried thinking of anything other than her.

Worst fifteen seconds of his life.

Finally, the rocket touched down on the surface of the earth. Sharkboy was quick to jump up and exit the ship, the door not even fully opened yet. The fresh air calmed him down and the starry night sky cleared his mind.

It was early in the evening, wich meant Max and his family were still awake. Lavagirl calmly walked out after him, walking past him as he was still gasping for clean air. He felt a little stupid for reacting this way, so he pulled himself together and followed her to the house.

They had always been welcome in the Daniels' home, so Lavagirl simply opened the backdoor and walked in, greeting Max's parents who were sitting on the couch, watching a movie. Sharkboy cringed when he noticed them cuddling, a longing feeling tugging at his heart when he looked forward at Lavagirl.

They automatically went upstairs, to Max's room. His door was open, and he was sitting at his desk with a bunch of textbooks in front of him. Sharkboy silently felt thankful for the millionth time that he and Lava never had to worry about school.

"Hey guys," he chirpily greeted, happy to leave his homework for another time. At fifteen, Max was growing out of his scrawny kid-body and was becoming an attractive teenager.

He was wearing black shorts and (Sharkboy had to keep himself from rolling his eyes) a white shirt with a cartoon rocket on it. His flowing blonde hair was now cut shorter, too.

Sharkboy sat down on the bed as Lavagirl stood next to Max, talking about his homework. Sharky smiled at the way she was able to help him with his Math as if it was kindergarten stuff. She was just so smart, even without completing school, and that was only one of the million things he loved about her.

He blocked the conversation out, lying back across the single-bed, making sure his fin was just off of the bed and draping an arm over his eyes, trying to get his mind to relax. He couldn't help them anyways, Math was the one thing he totally sucked at. So instead, he just let his mind wander, letting his own imagination take him wherever it wanted to.

Of course, he couldn't get the events of a mere half-hour ago to leave his mind. She had placed her hand on his chest, and he couldn't help but put his hand on her waist when she had moved past him. But he had torn himself from her.

She hadn't burnt him, in fact she had been quite cooled around others recently. He was just afraid. If something happened, everything would fall apart, and it would just be a life full of confused emotions and maybe even broken hearts.

The last thing Planet Drool needed now was for it's only heroes to be caught up in a dramatic Romeo and Juliet love-fest. That and...if he was dating her and something would happen... He tried shaking the thought from his mind.

A semi-light weight on his stomach pulled him from his train of thought. Lifting his arm and easily moving his upper body so that he was parallel with the floor, he saw that Lavagirl was sitting on him, arms crossed and an amused-annoyed expression on her face.

"Oy, do I have to wake you up the same way I did with Max?" He faintly noticed Max in the corner of his eye, lightly touching his rear-end at the memory. But his mind was a little too fogged to fully concentrate on that, what with the most beautiful girl in the universe sitting straight on him, and all.

"Do you want hot chocolate, or not?" she asked, him replying with a quick smile and wiggling his brows. She rolled her eyes at this, as she understood the message of 'You know how I like it.' He didn't like his hot chocolate completely hot, of course, just warm. And Lavagirl definitely knew that by now.

Once she was out of the room, Max shut the door behind her and pulled his chair up to the bed, sitting next to Sharkboy and leaning forward like a child engrossed in a fairy tale.

"So?" Sharkboy only looked at him, a little freaked out by the way his creator's eyes were sparkling mischievously. He had no idea what Max was getting at, but the single word had already put him on high alert.

"Uuh...so what?" Max threw his hands in the air in frustration, as if it was as obvious as the fact that the sky is blue.

"Uh duh! What's happened between you and Lavagirl since I last saw you?" Sharkboy rolled his eyes at this.

"Seriously, sometimes you're like a freaking girl about this. You've been obsessed with us hooking up for years now," Sharkboy said, frowning at Max. He only brushed it off, having heard that a lot.

"Yeah, whatever. So?" he repeated. Sharkboy sighed, trying to keep himself from just walking away. Sometimes that boy could just suck out his last drop of patience.

"Nothing has happened," he stated as clearly as possible, but Max only gave him a disapproving look. Sharkboy stood up and walked over to the door, planning on joining Lavagirl in the much more interesting task of boiling water.

"No, Sharkboy wait!" He stopped when Max put a hand on his shoulder, having to take a deep breath to refrain from tearing the kid apart. He turned around, willing to hear him out.

"Look," he started, his teen girl attitude suddenly replaced with concern. "I know you guys totally like each-other. No, scratch that, you love her." Sharkboy couldn't ignore the knots in his stomach at the sound of that word. "And I know she feels the same."

"Yeah, I know that," he said, trying to hold back on the biting tone. He turned away again, walking a few steps forward before stopping again. Images flooded his mind from five years ago.

The sight of her pale, lifeless face. The darkness where lava was supposed to be flowing. The feeling of her limp body in his arms. He couldn't protect her...

"I can't go out with her, Max," he said softly. His eyes staring off in the distance, an emotionless expression on his face.

"Why not?" Max asked behind him. Sharkboy wasn't prepared for that question, the key question, and he spinned around in a blind fury.

"Because...I..." he couldn't find the right words to describe his feelings as he clawed at his own hair, so he just spewed out the first thing he could think of to get the meddling boy off his back.

"I just don't want to, okay!"

His blood froze as his bionic ears picked up a soft gasp from the other side of the door, and footsteps hurrying down the hall. He groaned, raking his hand through his hair. She had heard him!

He punched the nearest solid wall in a crazed tantrum before nearly ripping the door open and running after her. He was outside in under a second, desperate to find her.

"Lavagirl! Lavagirl, where are you?!" He paused for a moment to think. He went through his mental files of everything he knew about her, a light-bulb quickly appearing above his head. Of course, she would be somewhere that was familiar to her.

He ran around the house, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that the rocket was still there. For a brief moment, he had thought she might leave without him. He ran to the rocket, entering through the open door and climbing up the ladder, to the bedroom.

Lavagirl was sitting on her bed, her arms tightly wrapped around her knees as she sat curled up, staring at the wall next to her. Tears were burning in her eyes, but she didn't let them flow.

Rhythmic clanking revealed that someone had found her, and she prayed for it not to be Sharkboy. If she had to see his face one more time, she'd fry the living crap out of him! Damn selfish jerkhole. She wished she knew better insults, but unfortunately Max had dreamt her up too sweet to know anything other than mild swearwords.

The person climbed up the ladder and stood up on the metal floor, and came to stand on the other end of the bunk-beds. The shadow revealed spiked hair, a dorsal fin and that the person was lazily leaning against the wall as if by habit.

Sharkboy.

She ignored him, only ducking her nose behind her arm as her cheek rested on her knee. He had clearly shown signs of liking her before, but now suddenly he wasn't interested. The only logical explaination she could think of, was that he had been playing her, and that only made the urge to toast his ass stronger.

She heard him taking a deep breath. So what now, was she frustrating him? Her hair blazed up, noticeably scaring him a bit, almost making her smile in satisfaction.

"L-Lavagirl?" he softly asked, concern and cautiousness mixed in his voice. She still ignored him, knowing that seeing him now would be too much, and even though he had been a total buttbrain, she didn't want him getting hurt. He sighed, and his shadow revealing him raking a clawed hand through his hair.

"Look, Lava... I didn't mean it that way, I..." Trying to make excuses? Tsk tsk. So typical. She turned to him, a bloodcurdling glare with her hands forming fists and the tears in her eyes making him retreat back a step. Although, she couldn't decide if the emotion on his face was fear or regret.

He looked down and bit his lip, slowly stepping forward again and looking at her. He looked like a kid who had been sent to the principal's office for doing something bad, albeit cute, like accidentally hitting someone's potted plant while shooting slingshot: scared and guilty but wearing an obvious mask of bravery.

Before she could allow her heart to melt at the sight, she turned away again, trying to remind herself that she was supposed to be mad at him.

"Okay," he whispered, almost to himself. "If you don't want to look at me, that's fine. Just please, hear me out, okay?" She didn't move or answer, just sat there, staring off into the distance.

"Yeah, it's true, I don't want to go out with you. But not because I don't like you, I really do! It's just..." And here comes the dumb excuse: "I just love you too much to only give you what I have. You're the most amazing, sweet, beautiful girl in the whole universe. What are you going to do with a guy like me," he said, his voice cracking up.

"You deserve only the best. A guy who could give you the world, a guy who can protect you from anything and everything. You deserve a handsome, patient, loving and selfless prince on a white horse. A knight in shining armor, even." She felt her tears flowing, but her reasons have changed.

"And what am I?" he chuckled, dejected. "A retard in tinfoil." It was quiet for a minute before he spoke again, his voice soft like he was going to cry. "And the real reason...what if something happened to you? And I wouldn't be able to protect you? What kind of a boyfriend would I be if I let you get hurt? Like when..."

She knew exactly what he was talking about. When they were kids, Mr. Electric had killed Sharkboy, and she had jumped into the water after him. This had caused her to die, too, but Max's dreaming, together with Sharkboy, had saved her. She knew that he blamed himself for her death.

"So, yeah," his voice was thick, and she knew he was holding back tears. "That's why I don't want to go out with you." He was just walking back towards the exit when she decided that she had probably punished him enough.

She jumped up and was in his arms within two strides. She threw her arms around him, and he held her, too. Looking up, she saw fear, nervousness, unstability and even a bit of care in his eyes.

And also, a flicker of hope.

She smiled up at him, nearly laughing when he returned it shyly. Now when did he decide that he was suddenly not good enough for her? He was cute, goofy, handsome, strong and maybe even a little smart. And she knew he would always protect her.

"Hey," she said softly. "If I'm supposed to deserve such a great guy, then why can't I have you?" His smile widened, and she felt her heart flutter when he came closer. She did the same, and in no time their lips met.

Having waited for this for a VERY long time, Lavagirl couldn't help but melt into the kiss. Of course, she had to be careful not to actually melt. The heat that was building up inside her from the feeling of his lips against hers was a little hard to keep low, and she felt him slightly cringe for a moment, but she managed.

She moved her hands up his chest and her arms snaked around his neck as he held her closer. It was the most wonderful, most energetic ten seconds of her life. When they both pulled away at the same time, she opened her eyes to his.

When she had finally caught her breath, she asked: "What now?" Sharkboy pondered for a moment, then beamed at her.

"Let's go tell Max."

**AN: Bat: That's probably the sweetest thing I've ever written!**

**Lavagirl/Ebony: Aaaaw!**

**Enya/Max: Eew.**

**Sharkboy: *sly smile***

**Bat: Thanks for reading, guys! Took me three days of sitting in the coldest room in the house, in July, the coldest month of the year, but I did it!**

**Cuid: Woof!**

**Lavagirl: You said it, boy. Hot chocolate, anyone?**

**Everyone: *shivering* Yes!**


End file.
